From Company First to Customer First- How a Brand got its Swagger Back by Lee Carter and @patrickshort

1. Numerous ownership changes

2. Revolving door of executive leadership

3. Global acquisitions created a blend of different companies

4. An engineering-led company that didn't place any importance on marketing.

5. A reluctant sales force. Their product line was a little intimidating. 

In addition, like many b2b companies, most people never think of them. Their true audience is small and infrequent (corporations and government bodies). 

What changed? A new executive leadership team including a CMO that believed in the power of branding and marketing. 

Started by listening to the:

Got input from the client and the teammates in the company. Brought all these voices together. Who are we as company? What can we deliver?

Used this to discover that customers needed an ally, advocate. In this case their customer needed the company to help them advocate for their products to the decision makers. 

A competitive review revealed they were in a sea of sameness. No differentiators between the competitors. 

They didn't have much of a brand, to start with. 

This lead them to a new brand platform and promise. Not just a maker of things but a provider of solutions. Created strategy with the data they discovered. 

This hard to be sold internally, not just externally. Employees were getting bored or lost motivation. The new brand needed to help solve this problem. 

 * Revitalized the company and sparked a new energy with teammates.

 * Ignited greater collaboration between sales and marketing.

 * Reinvigorated customers and a channel partner relationships. 

 * The client was acquired by another corporation (a goal of the campaign) because they had a brand to purchase.